GOR06926.TXT George YEARDLEY
Note: no relationship is yet established between this illustrious person and my relative Edward YEARDLY who married Dorothy CHAPMAN alias BARKER Goodwin Yeardly, widow of my ancestor Daniel GOODWIN. However, because of the namesimilarity and our suspicion that the Goodwin's may have entered the Colonies via VA, this person is added to the database. His movements between England and the colonies are noted for this same purpose.
Brock, R. A. Virginia and Virginians. ; Doc 3-30: As President of the Council, Captain Yeardley was left as Deputy in charge of the government of Virginia when his predecessor, Sir Thomas Dale, left in APR 1616 for England.Yeardley was superseded by Captain Samuel Argall on 15 MAY 1617 and returned to England. "Upon the intelligence of the death of Lord De La Warr, Yeardley, who was knighted on the occassion, was appointed to succeed him." He arrived in theColony 19 APR 1619 and assumed the government. On the following 30 JUL, the first representative legislative assembly ever held in America was convened at Jamestown. Yeardley was superseded 18 NOV 1621 by Sir Francis Wyatt, but resumedthe government 17 MAY 1626. He died the following NOV. During his administration many important improvements were made, and the power, population, and prosperity of the Colony were much enhanced.
He is reported in JAN 1622 as having built a windmill, the first erected in America. He left a widow, Lady Temperance, and two sons, Francis and Argall. Francis "remarkably instanced individual enterprise, effecting, in 1654,discoveries in North Carolina, and purchasing from the natives at a cost of £300, `three great rivers and all such others as they should like Southerly,' which country he took possession of in the name of the Commonwealth." [I wonder ifthe Indians also sold him a bridge or two.] Sir George Yeardley has representative descendants of the name in the US, but it is not known to the writer that such exist in Virginia.
Smith, Margaret Vowell. Virginia 1492-1892. ; Doc 3-31: When left in charge by Sir Dale, Captain George Yeardley, as Deputy-Governor, indulged the people in the cultivation of tobacco in preference to corn, which he compelled thenatives to furnish by way of tribute. An instance of Yeardley's method of "raising" corn is as follows:
Having sent to the Chickahominies for the tribute corn, and receiving an insolent answer, Governor Yeardley proceded with one hundred men to their principal settlement, where he was met with contempt and scorn. Perceiving theIndians to be in a hostile and menacing posture, he ordered his men to fire on them, and twelve were killed on the spot. Twelve were also taken prisoners, two of whom were elders; BUT THEY PAID ONE HUNDRED BUSHELS OF CORN FOR THEIRRANSOM, AND, AS THE PRICE OF PEACE, LOADED THREE ENGLISH BOATS WITH THE COVETED CEREAL!
Yeardley's government was successful, but he was, through Sir Thomas Smith's influence, superseded by Captain Samuel Argall, who arrived in Virginia in MAY 1617 and assumed control of affairs. [3, 4]